A Long Goodbye to Bismarck? : The Politics of Welfare Reform in Continental Europe

Palier, Bruno

doi:10.5117/9789089642349

Cited by 242 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 103 publications

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“…Such interconnections were noted as early as the 1980s by Quadrango in the US where 'changes in benefits programs are related to changes in the labor process', for example by relief programs that maintain 'a pool of marginally employed, low wage workers' who can be moved as employers require between relief assistance and poorly rewarded temporary jobs (Quadrango, 1987: 123-124). Similar interrelations have also been noted in countries with Bismarkian social insurance based welfare states (Palier, 2010). 7 In a wider ranging analysis, Emmenegger et al (2012: 14) argued that, driven by large-scale economic trends such as deindustrialisation and globalisation and reinforced by policy choices promoting liberalisation, in different countries to different degrees there has been growth in inequality, in the incidence of low pay and in the flexibilisation of employment, and this has prompted a political struggle 'in which politically and economically stronger groups are using their power resources to insulate themselves from the negative effects of structural pressures', and this 'translates into the social policy realm'.…”

Section: Theoretical Implicationssupporting

confidence: 73%

Bifurcation, Stratification and Informality in Post-Socialist Welfare Regimes

Cox¹

2018

Intersections

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The essay assesses the work of Júlia Szalai on the concept of the bifurcated welfare state as a contribution to the debate on welfare regimes in Central and Eastern Europe. It locates her work in the context of the debate around Esping-Andersen’s ideal types of welfare state regimes and sees the bifurcated welfare state as offering a means of understanding the key features of hybrid welfare states in East Central Europe. The essay then examines evidence in support of the concept and explores possible ways in which the idea may contribute to the research agenda on welfare regimes.

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Section: Theoretical Implicationssupporting

confidence: 73%

Bifurcation, Stratification and Informality in Post-Socialist Welfare Regimes

Cox¹

2018

Intersections

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“…In terms of heterogeneity, these countries differ in the ways they manage the solo self-employed, and are characterized by different welfare systems. Germany and France are usually classified as conservative welfares, but with different strategies concerning women employment (Palier, 2010); the Netherlands is a hybrid case between the social-democratic and conservative models (Kammer et al, 2012); Italy represents a Southern European welfare system, with a strong reliance on family support (Ferrera, 1996); the UK is a liberal welfare state and the Slovak welfare state has shifted from a universalistic approach to a residual social system and it has recently been characterized by several employment reforms (Fenger, 2007). The second criterion is the dynamism of the cases, which has meant selecting countries where there are, or have been, documented experiences of collective actions aimed at representing solo self-employed workers, union activities, the creation of new unions and more fluid associations, with the emergence of diverse social collective actors.…”

Section: Our Proposal For a Future Research Agendamentioning

confidence: 99%

Hybrid Areas of Work Between Employment and Self-Employment: Emerging Challenges and Future Research Directions

et al. 2020

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The growth of non-standard employment relations has created one of the major challenges in terms of workers' rights as well as collective representation in European societies. Among non-standard employment relations, so-called "solo self-employed"-self-employed workers without employees-are challenging the very foundations of our labor markets, that is to say the opposition between employers and employees, fostering the development of emerging "hybrid" areas of work. The heterogeneity of the solo self-employed is difficult to capture from official statistics, which are still based on traditional classifications, and questions also the legal categories that qualify these workers. Moreover, the fact that solo self-employed workers do not form a homogenous group, and are diverse in terms of their activities, interests and needs, calls for changes in the way trade unions, employer organizations, and new freelancer associations develop collective actions, claims-making activities, and strategies of organizing. With the aim to achieve an in-depth understanding of the increasingly extensive and populated categories of the solo self-employed, this contribution aims at reconstructing the state of the art within different fields of study, such as employment relations, labor law, industrial relations and social movements, and at offering some possible future research directions.

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“…Institutional change worked as an intermediary variable, a transitional element, that does not directly affect the policy itself but prepares the conditions necessary for future policy change. This pattern of change has been highlighted in European research on the politics of welfare reform on the Continent (Palier 2010) and can be seen in the case of US health care policy change. Using favorable procedural instruments, Pelosi and Reid unified Democrats around the reform and then used unorthodox lawmaking to pass it.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 77%

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: The Victory of Unorthodox Lawmaking

Beaussier¹

2012

Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law

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The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was a major legislative achievement of the 111th Congress. This law structurally reforms the US health care system by encouraging universal health care coverage through regulated competition among private insurance companies. When looking at the process for reform, what strikes an observer of US health care policy in the first place is that the Democratic majority was able to enact something in a political field characterized by strong resistance to change. This article builds on that observation. Arguments concentrate on the legislative process of the reform and support the idea that it may be partly explained by considering an evolution of US legislative institutions, mostly in the sense of a more centralized legislative process. Based on approximately one hundred semidirected interviews, I argue that the Democratic majority, building on lessons from both President Bill Clinton's health care reform attempt and the Republicans' strategy of using strong congressional leadership to pass social reforms, was able to overcome institutional constraints that have long prevented comprehensive change. A more centralized legislative process, which has been described as "unorthodox lawmaking," enabled the Democratic leadership to overcome multiple institutional and political veto players.

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A Long Goodbye to Bismarck? : The Politics of Welfare Reform in Continental Europe

Cited by 242 publications

References 103 publications

Bifurcation, Stratification and Informality in Post-Socialist Welfare Regimes

Bifurcation, Stratification and Informality in Post-Socialist Welfare Regimes

Hybrid Areas of Work Between Employment and Self-Employment: Emerging Challenges and Future Research Directions

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: The Victory of Unorthodox Lawmaking

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